The United States revoked the visas of Euclides Torres and Martha Peraltawithin the framework of a series of immigration measures announced by the State Department against foreign citizens accused of ‘undermining’ democratically elected governments in countries of the Western Hemisphere.
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The decision was communicated this Monday in a press release and is part of a Washington policy aimed at restricting the entry into United States territory of people from Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia to whom attributes actions that in his opinion affect stability in the region.
“Under the Trump administration, corrupt foreign officials can no longer freely enter the United States. Today, the State Department is taking steps to fulfill commitments to defend democratic governance throughout our hemisphere against corruption and drug trafficking, commitments assumed at the Doral Summit and reaffirmed in the declaration of the leaders of the Shield of the Americas initiative”reads the State Department statement.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo: Getty Images via AFP
In Colombia, the names of Torres and Peralta are related to two of the main political and judicial scandals that marked the Government of Gustavo Petro: the alleged irregularities in the financing of the 2022 presidential campaign and the network of corruption in the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD).
“These visa restriction measures are taken pursuant to section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which prohibits entry to those whose entry or proposed activities have potentially serious adverse consequences for the foreign policy of the United States.”they add in the document.
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Who is Martha Peralta?
Peralta’s name was linked to the corruption scandal of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) after the former director of the entity, Olmedo López, accused her of intervening in the assignment of contracts in La Guajira. in exchange for political support for the reforms of the Petro Government.
According to López’s statements, Peralta had requested to direct a contract for more than 2,210 million pesos for the company Inversiones IRL SAS, intended for the rental of yellow machinery and dump trucks for work in Riohacha.
The Prosecutor’s Office also accused her of allegedly acting as a liaison between López and contractors interested in agreements with the entity. In May 2026, the Supreme Court of Justice opened a formal investigation against her for alleged influence peddling and improper bribery, and called her for investigation. Peralta rejects the accusations.
Olmedo López, former director of the UNGRD. Photo: Supplied
Who is Euclides Torres?
Torres, for his part, is a businessman and contractor from the Caribbean whose economic power was extended through business with the State and his influence in regional politics. In addition, he heads a business group with interests in sectors such as public lighting, energy, road signage and lighting.
The businessman was at the center of journalistic investigations for his alleged participation in the financing of Gustavo Petro’s political activities before and during the 2022 presidential campaign.
One of the most documented episodes is the political event held in September 2021 in Barranquilla, when Petro, then a senator and presidential candidate, led an event on a stage in the shape of the letter P. Torres would have financed part of the logistics of the event, expenses that were not reported.
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The businessman’s name also appeared in the Prosecutor’s Office investigation against Nicolás Petro Burgos, son of the former president, for alleged money laundering and illicit enrichment.
The conversations found on the cell phone of Daysuris Vásquez, ex-partner of the former deputy, pointed to the alleged delivery of an apartment in Bogotá by Torres, who would also have financed other political activities of the Petro Presidente campaign.
The property, located in the exclusive sector of Rosales, would have been made available to Nicolás Petro for his stays in the capital.
For the Prosecutor’s Office, these benefits and the resources that Nicolás Petro would have received from the businessman could have contributed to the unjustified increase in assets that is being investigated and that, according to the prosecuting entity, would not have been reported in his income tax return.
Former president Gustavo Petro during the public event in the city of Cali. Photo:Presidency of the Republic.
The measure reaches officials from other countries
In Bolivia, the United States revoked the visas of 12 citizens and their relatives, including prosecutors Martín Daniel Irusta Flores and Alberto Zeballos Flores; judges Albania Chane Caballero Saavedra, Rosario Ximena Flores Paniagua and Rodrigo Aldo Vedia Espinoza; former Minister of Justice Iván Manolo Lima Magne; the constitutional magistrate Israel Ramiro Campero Méndez and the businessman José Luis Iriarte Cussi, among others.
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In addition, nine other Bolivian citizens and their families were excluded from the possibility of obtaining visas. Separately, Washington publicly designated Bolivia’s attorney general, Roger Mariaca, whom he accuses of receiving bribes to facilitate drug trafficking and helping criminals evade justice.
In Peru, the measure fell on the judge of the Constitutional Court of the First Circuit of Lima, Juan Carlos Núñez Matos, and his family. Finally, the State Department announced the revocation of the visas of two Ecuadorian citizens and their family members, although the statement does not identify their names.
News in development…
